TERRAFORMING TERRA
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

End of An Arab Dictator

So ends one of the more awful examples
of one man rule visited upon an unfortunate population.He may be alive and he may even remain alive
and he may even succeed in evading justice though that appears rather unlikely,
but the one certainty today is that with the loss of the population centers he
is no longer the government.

He did go down fighting to the
end and showed every dictator in the world the actual futility of resisting the
aroused will of the people.We had
already learned this in Eastern Europe when
the most organized states of oppression fell.Then no dictator had thought it even possible.

Today we know better and now the
Arab world also knows better.Five long
standing Arab dictatorships are today all states in transition.The ones that are still ruled by monarchies
of some sort have all been shaken but have survived for now, but are clearly
under serious pressure to establish a parliamentary devolution plan.Expect that to all speed up.

That leaves Iran, Turkey,
and Algeria
who all are riding the tiger.

What has to come out of all this
is a combination of true representative government, and the outright
suppression of ideologies fomenting authoritarian solutions including political
Islam.I do not see an easy evolution at
all.

What has ended is the past.We had a break with Colonialism sixty years
ago whose effective touch had been generally constructive, but also very brief
and insufficient to change much.One
only has to read an optimistic report on progress in the Sudan to
understand just how far off the mark the successor regimes became.This break is from the post colonial
successor regimes who have had a sixty year run at making their countries
work.

We are now watching the people
themselves assert real control over who will rule them.The lessons of the enlightenment we had
though lost on the Arab world were not.They are now crafting Arab solutions to the needs of their polities.

This means that the old must first
disintegrate before it can all be integrated back into a recognizable system.So perhaps we really need to be
optimistic.The Dictators are gone or
going, The Kings are discovering a late enthusiasm for their constitutions and
the people are all learning how to vote and debate the nature of their
government.

TRIPOLI — Rebels overran Moamer Kadhafi's fortified Bab al-Azizya headquarters
in Tripoli
Tuesday after a day of heavy fighting, marking a symbolic end to the
strongman's 42-year iron-fisted rule.

The defenders had fled, and there was no immediate word on the
whereabouts of Kadhafi or his family after the insurgents breached the defences
as part of a massive assault that began in the morning.

"Rebels breached the surrounding cement walls and entered inside.
They have taken Bab al-Azizya. Completely. It is finished," an AFP
correspondent said.

"It is an incredible sight."

The seizure of the compound sparked celebrations by the rebel fighters,
who fired their weapons in the air before raiding the armoury and seizing
ammunition, pistols and assault rifles.

"It is an incredible sight," the correspondent said, adding
that the bodies of a number of apparent Kadhafi fighters were lying inside, as
were wounded people.

Amid reports that ordinary citizens were beginning to stream into the
complex of several hectares (acres), rebel television Al-Ahrar called on people
to stay away so that insurgent fighters could mop up inside.

It also urged police in Tripoli
to remain at their posts in order to guarantee security.

A rebel official in the western city of Misrata said that "at the same house
used by Kadhafi before to describe the Libyan people as rats, today the
independence flag is flying on its roof."

He was referring to a speech by Kadhafi soon after the rebellion was
launched in mid-February in which he referred to those rising up against him as
"rats."

The fighting for Kadhafi's nerve centre was the most intense in the
city since rebel fighters in their hundreds came surging through its gates
three days ago.

The sky in the afternoon was filled with the sound of heavy and light
machine guns as well as mortars, with the overhead roar of NATO jets, though it
was unclear if they carried out air strikes.

Even two kilometres (about a mile) from the fighting, the almost
constant whistle of falling bullets could be hear from the rooftops, as the
city's mosques chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest).

Rebel leaders said fighters from their western bastion of Misrata,
renowned for their prowess after breaking a months-long siege of the port city
by Kadhafi's forces, had joined Tripoli
rebels in the assault, which also saw the deployment of tanks captured from
loyalist forces.

On the eastern front, Libyan rebels Tuesday overran the eastern oil hub
of Ras Lanuf on the road to Moamer Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte, their military
spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said.

"We are now in Ras Lanuf," Bani told AFP, adding he hoped
insurgents would soon reach Bin Jawad, a hamlet just east of Sirte and almost
halfway between the rebel-held cities of Benghazi and Misrata.

Bab al-Azizya had been the site chosen very early Tuesday by Kadhafi's
son, Seif al-Islam, to make an appearance before journalists to refute reports
that he had been arrested by the rebels.

"Tripoli
is under our control. Everyone should rest assured. All is well in Tripoli," Seif said
at the compound, smiling broadly and flashing the V-for-victory sign.

"I am here to refute the lies," the 39-year-old said about
reports of his arrest, and accused the West of waging a "technological and
media war to cause chaos and terror in Libya."

Seif, like his father, is wanted by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) for crimes against humanity. He said Kadhafi and his entire family were
still in Tripoli,
denying rumours he had fled but without specifying the exact location.

His comments were backed up by the Russian head of world chess who said
on Tuesday Kadhafi had told him in a telephone call that he was in Tripoli and did not
intend to leave the country.

"I am alive and healthy. I am in Tripoli
and do not intend to leave Libya.
Do not believe the lying reports by Western television companies," Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov quoted Kadhafi as saying in the conversation, the Interfax news
agency reported. Ilyumzhinov had met Kadhafi in Tripoli in June.

NATO insisted Tuesday that Kadhafi's time is up but stressed that he
was not being personally targeted by the Western military alliance.

"The end is near," chief NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said
in Brussels.

"A brief appearance in the dead of night doesn't indicate to me
someone who is in control of a capital," she said, referring to Seif.
"It shows the remnants of the regime are on the run."

In Paris, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said he had agreed with his US counterpart Barack Obama to
continue military action against Kadhafi until he lays down his weapons.

Sarkozy's ElyseePalace said in a
statement that the two leaders had held telephonic talks during which they
"agreed to pursue their military effort in support of the legitimate
Libyan authorities for as long as Kadhafi and his clan have not put down their
arms."

They were referring to the NATO-led bombing campaign launched in March
under a UN mandate to protect civilians in Libya.

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About Me

Apr 2017 - 4.1 Mil Pg Views, March 2013 - Posted my paper introducing CLOUD COSMOLOGY & NEUTRAL NEUTRINO rigorously described as the SPACE TIME PENDULUM, September 2010 I am pleased to report that my essay titled A NEW METRIC WITH APPLICATIONS TO PHYSICS AND SOLVING CERTAIN HIGHER ORDERED DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS' has been published in Physics Essays(AIP) and appeared in their June 2010 quarterly. 40 years ago I took an honors degree in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo. My interest was Relativity and my last year there saw me complete a 900 level course under Hanno Rund on his work in relativity,as well as differential geometry(pure math) and of course analysis. I continued researching new ideas and knowledge since that time and I have prepared a book for publication titled Paradigms Shift&. I maintain my blog as a day book and research tool to retain data and record impressions and interpretations on material read. Do join my blog and receive Four items of interest daily Monday through Saturday.